Religion of Peace
A popular historical public relations slogan utilized by various faiths to assure everyone of their absolute tranquility right before launching a holy war.
Islam Files, No. 5 — The Meccan Verses Say There Is No Compulsion in Religion. The Medinan Verses, Which the Classical Law Treats as Later, Say to Fight Those Who Do Not Believe.
Qur’an 2:256: “There is no compulsion in religion.” It is the verse on the pamphlet. Qur’an 109: “To you your religion, and to me mine.” Meccan, early, recited when the preacher had no army. Qur’an 9:5: kill the polytheists wherever you find them. Qur’an
Islam Files, No. 4 — The Life Is Called the Best-Documented Biography on Earth. The Town at the Center of It Does Not Appear in the Pre-Islamic Record, and the First Full Life Survives from the Ninth Century.
In the standard narrative the Prophet is born in Mecca in 570, receives revelation there from 610, leaves in 622, and dies in 632. The Qur’an names “Makka” once, in 48:24. Everything else is “Masjid al-Haram,” which the later tradition glues to the Kaaba. The sira makes
Islam Files, No. 3 — The Interfaith Brochure Says Anyone May Leave. Reliance of the Traveller, Certified by al-Azhar, Says the One Who Leaves “Deserves to Be Killed.”
Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri died in 1368. His Umdat al-Salik, published in English as Reliance of the Traveller and carrying al-Azhar’s certification, is a standard Shafi‘i handbook, not a Telegram channel. Section o8.1: “When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily
Islam Files, No. 2 — Sahih al-Bukhari Says the Marriage Was Contracted at Six and Consummated at Nine. The Same Canon Says a Rape Did Not Occur Unless Four Male Muslim Witnesses Saw It.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5134, on the authority of Aisha: he married her when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine. Bukhari 3894 puts the same ages in her own voice, including the scene: women washed her, the Prophet arrived mid-morning, she was nine. Bukhari 3896
Islam Files, No. 1 — The Constitution of Medina Named Three Jewish Clans as Allies. The Pact of Umar Later Priced the Rest of the Region’s Christians as a Tax Line.
In 622 the oasis of Yathrib took in a preacher the Meccans had run out of town. The document later called the Constitution of Medina listed the Jewish clans of Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza among the parties to a common defense. They kept their religion and their
Every Rule at Airport Security Has a Name, a Date, and Exactly One Guy Who Ruined It for Everyone
Your shoes, your shampoo, and your laptop are all inconveniencing you because of specific people on specific flights on specific dates — decades ago.
How to Flee a Theocracy and Build Your Own in 3 Easy Steps: A European Guide
Welcome to the grand European social experiment, a place where logic goes to die and progressive tolerance is currently busy eating its own tail.